Forming the frame of an automobile from hydroformed, closed section, tubular members provides an automotive body structure that improves both roof strength and side impact intrusion resistance as compared to conventional spot welded, stamped, open section frame members. Open section frame members, however, did not impede the use of structural reinforcements where needed on the inside portion of the frame member to carry specific loads. Closed section, hydroformed tubular frame members cause difficulties with respect to the attachment of reinforcements that need to be placed on the inside portion of the frame member as internal access into the tubular frame member is limited. While forming an opening in the tubular frame member would present a solution to gaining access to the interior of the tubular member for the placement of reinforcements, the formation of such an opening would degrade the stiffness of the hydroformed frame member.
The placement of a striker reinforcement is one of the challenges created with the use of a hydroformed tubular member as the B-pillar of an automotive frame. The B-pillar carries the striker, which engages the latch mechanism carried by the door to secure the door in a closed orientation with respect to the automotive frame. The latch and striker are designed to work together to secure the door against the B-pillar, and prevent the door from inadvertently opening in the event of a crash, but is also designed to control squeaks and rattles, and door chucking. From an assembly standpoint, the striker and latch system will also provide the ability to set door position adjustment for fit and finish. Since the striker is set and adjusted from the door opening, attaching the striker to the door opening panel or to the body side panel would not provide sufficient strength to manage the loads required during the side impact or pull-out tests. Reinforcement is required to allow the striker and the striker reinforcement to sandwich the thin sheet metal body panel and distribute the load over a greater area. A typical striker reinforcement is a deformable plate attached to the inner side of the B-pillar.
The mounting of a striker in an open section, stamped B-pillar is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,410, issued to Hari Kosaraju, et al on Oct. 10, 2000. Similarly, the use of a positionable striker reinforcement member in an open section automotive frame member is disclosed in U. S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0042869 of Gary Tucker, published on Mar. 4, 2004. Furthermore, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0119300 of Steven Strable, et al, published on Jun. 24, 2004, also discloses a striker reinforcement that is welded to the inside portion of an open section automotive frame member. A hydroformed B-pillar structure is shown in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0273630 of Xiaoming Chen, et al, published on Dec. 7, 2006; however, the mounting of the striker reinforcement is not disclosed in this published patent application.
The placement of a striker reinforcement in a closed section frame member is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,575, granted on Feb. 21, 1984, to Louis Garvey, et al, wherein the anchor plate is welded to the inside wall of the vehicle door lock pillar. Although the Garvey striker configuration is in conjunction with a closed section pillar, the pillar is formed from stamped, welded sections, rather than being hydroformed. Accordingly, the striker reinforcement has to be welded in placed before the pillar is formed into the closed section or access to the interior of the pillar is necessary to place the striker reinforcement on the interior of the pillar structure. A similar striker assembly is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,401, granted to Masahide Takada on Nov. 9, 2004, in which the reinforcement is placed on the interior of a closed section formed pillar that requires access to the interior in order to affix the striker reinforcement.
It would be desirable to provide a striker reinforcement plate and a method of installing the striker reinforcement plate into a closed section, hydroformed tubular frame member, such as the B-pillar of an automotive frame.